Do your leftovers pine away at the
back of the fridge, forgotten and unloved, and then get thrown out? Finding new
things to do with leftovers not only helps reduce your food bills because
you’re not wasting so much, but it’s kinder to the planet. Not to mention that
it can be great fun to experiment.
I love roast vegetables. A plate piled
high with roasted potatoes, pumpkin, carrots and beetroots is truly delicious. Add
some greens – beans, peas, broccoli, broccolini – for a veritable feast.
Thing is, when I roast veggies
somehow I always seem to cook too much. Especially with the pumpkin.
Not wanting to waste it, I’ve been messing
about and have discovered delicious ways to use any leftover roasted pumpkin.
These taste so good that now I deliberately cook too much. I have been using
what in Australia is called “butternut pumpkin”. In other places it’s referred
to as “butternut squash”. But I figure these recipes should work pretty well
with any kind of pumpkin. Sorry I can’t give you accurate quantities. Part of
the fun of leftovers is experimenting … if you get really stuck, drop me a line
and I’ll help you out.
Roasted
Pumpkin Soup
Fry up diced onion and finely
chopped garlic in olive oil. Throw in a teaspoon of cumin seeds and cook until
onion is soft and cumin smells lovely. Toss in the roasted pumpkin and some
vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for a couple of minutes. Blitz
with a stick blender. Check seasoning and serve with a swirl of natural
yoghurt.
(For this recipe I used about 5 pieces
of roasted pumpkin with one medium sized onion and 2 cloves of garlic.)
Roast
Pumpkin Sauce for Pasta
Years ago I ate pumpkin filled
ravioli with pumpkin sauce at a restaurant in Venice. Rather too much pumpkin
was my thought at the time, but I did like the idea. So I serve this pumpkin
sauce with spinach and ricotta filled ravioli.
Mash pumpkin. Add enough white wine
to make a fairly thick sauce. If you think the mix needs too much wine, or if
you prefer not to use wine, use vegetable stock or a combination of both. Warm
through and season with salt and pepper.
I like the sauce to be quite thick
and put it in the bottom of a large bowl. Then arrange pasta on top. When I
want a meal to be extra special, and feel that I can survive the additional
calories, I serve it with a sage and butter sauce, and grated Parmesan. If
you’re not using the sage butter, why not add some chopped sage to the pumpkin
mix? The flavours go together wonderfully.
Sage
and Butter Sauce
Melt butter in fry pan with sage
leaves. When butter starts to turn brown remove from heat and quickly add lemon
juice. Make sure your butter doesn't burn.
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